The 49ers lost 29-17 Sunday in Miami, not that it impacted their playoff hopes as they were eliminated from postseason contention just before kickoff when Washington beat Philadelphia.
Brock Purdy threw for 313 yards and two touchdowns, completing 26-of-40 attempts, but his fourth-quarter interception as he was being hit by Calais Campbell ended a potential game-winning drive.
The Niners’ two leading rushers were not running backs, as Purdy amassed 26 yards on four carries and Deebo Samuel ran four times for 25 yards. Patrick Taylor Jr., the starting running back who began the season as a fifth-stringer, had 24 yards on eight carries.
Samuel had a touchdown catch-and-run to add to his 96 yards on seven receptions, while George Kittle had eight catches for 106 yards. Tight end Eric Saubert also caught a touchdown, a 2-yarder that brought the 49ers within two points in the second half.
Eleven penalties for 90 yards and several key injuries bit the 49ers, as linebackers Dre Greenlaw and Dee Winters went down along with offensive linemen Jaylon Moore and Aaron Banks.
Here’s what the 49ers had to say after the loss:
Kyle Shanahan
On Banks’ injury:
They thought it was most likely an MCL.
On whether there’s concern about Greenlaw’s calf:
It can be … He felt tightness in the calf, so once that happened, we shut him down.
On being eliminated from playoffs before kickoff:
I wasn’t aware of that but that did nothing with the game.
On his postgame message to the team:
No matter what’s going on, when you have those penalties like that, you don’t deserve the win. The offense, the biggest thing was lack of concentration. … You can’t have three personal fouls on three drives in the second half and expect to win.
On Purdy’s interception:
It looked like he was going to layer the ball over whoever the nickel was and as he was throwing it he got hit, so he wasn’t able to.
On penalties leading to a missed field goal:
When you got first-and-goal and you make it third and goal at the 18 or whatever that is and you miss a kick, and that’s something that you’ve done on your own, that’s very frustrating.
On his confidence in kicker Jake Moody:
It wasn’t good out there missing that kick. I don’t know exactly what happened on the snap and the hold but he’s got to make it.
On whether returning to the stadium of Super Bowl LIV entered his mind:
It did a little bit when I got into my coaches’ locker room, but nothing with the game or anything.
Brock Purdy
On the offensive performance:
Just not good enough. I felt like we hurt ourselves early in the game with some penalties and things, just plays we left out there.
On the interception
I was trying to layer it over that defender to Ricky, and then I just got hit and I couldn’t put enough on the ball that I really wanted to and left it short, and the guy got it.
On the year
It’s just been not clean football across the board. I just feel like we’re hurting ourselves offensively. And then when the defense gets a stop, we got to go and capitalize. Last year, we did that really well the last couple years and we played team football for four quarters and I just felt like we were pretty dominant. And tso this year, it’s just been hit-or-miss and the momentum as a whole team, as a unit has just been OK.
On his mindset amid injuries to the offense:
No matter who’s out there, we have what it takes to win and move the chains and put up points and give our team a chance to win. That’s my mindset. And so that’s why I’m hard on myself. We’ve had some guys that have been banged up and all that, and we haven’t been able to get it done.
On meeting Dan Marino:
We were starting to warm up and he sort of walked over and said ‘Hey man, I just wanted to meet you. Good luck and tell your dad I said hi.’ so that was really neat.
On Kittle and Samuel:
Their character, man, playing with George and Deebo and their heart and fight for our team and just
Nick Bosa
On the mistakes:
It’s happened way too many times this year and when it rains it pours. It’s very frustrating all around — offense, defense, special teams. when you have that many penalties, that’s kind of a harbinger of loss.
On Greenlaw’s injury:
I felt for him today and he really wanted to play the rest of the year. He’s an incredible player and I think sometimes with him, we need to protect him from himself because he’ll play through anything. sometimes when you go through an injury like that and it’s not ready, I think the best thing for him would be to take it as slow as he can.
On what they’ve learned with this down year:
We’ve learned that this league is very tough and we’ve been the highest of highs for a long time and sometimes things don’t go your way, and a lot of it is because of what w’ve done, obviously. Just have to appreciate playing this game. I don’t think I’ve played a game where we don’t really have a chance in the playoffs, so it was a different feel.
On learning who really wants to be a 49er, as he said last week they’d learn:
It’s very, very evident that the guys who want to be here are going to play really hard and continue to do that. I don’t question anybody on this team but we’re definitely going to be tested the next couple weeks.
On whether he needs to rest with his injuries:
No, I’m good. The oblique’s been brutal but it’s not something that’s worrisome.
George Kittle
On frustration after this game:
It’s just bad football, and I don’t put that on coach Shanahan, I don’t put that on our wide receivers coach and line coach, tight ends coach, that’s on us. We know what the formations are, we have to go out there and execute. I messed up one.
On coming back to Hard Rock Stadium after Super Bowl LIV:
Are you asking me if I have PTSD from that game? No, I had a great time tonight besides the penalties and all that. Great stadium, great atmosphere, good field. I had fun out there besides the outcome of the game, rumbling, bumbling all the way down the field.
On being eliminated from the playoffs:
While we are eliminated, we still have two weeks of football left and you know if I have football in front of me, I’m going to play as hard as I possibly can and I’m going to try to get the guys around me to do the same.
On crossing the 1,000-yard mark:
I set goals for myself before the season. 1,000 yards is one of those goals. You know, I’d rather be in the playoffs but getting 1,000 yards is good.
Fred Warner
On the defense:
We did some things good, we did some things not good. Penalties killed us, not taking the ball away. One takeaway in the last five games is just not going to get it done. I challenged the defense at half, saying we needed to take the ball away to win the game, and we didn’t do that, and I put that on myself.
On Greenlaw going down:
We see the difference right, from the last game when he’s out there? That’s my guy. I love going out there to battle with him, but at the end of the day, it’s about saving Dre from himself sometimes too. He’s coming back from a major injury and everybody looks at the last game and how great he was, and it’s like, that’s not normal. He’s dealing with something significant and we got to just protect him from himself sometimes.
On Greenlaw’s mood:
He’s down. Dre’s built the right way — he wants to help us win games.
On the team’s energy after he and Bosa have mentioned the rest of the season would be a test:
We came out with the right intention. I think all across the board, everybody had their mind made up that we were going to come out, we were going to set the tone early, but I mean, it’s a four-quarter football game. That rah-rah stuff only lasts so long. You got to play assignment-sound, execute at a high level and at the end of the day, I look at defensively just keep looking at the takeaways as the difference. When we don’t take the ball away, it’s going to be hard to win.